Jeevithan

My Experience with the RTO: Today vs. 8 Years Ago It was 1996 when the Tamil movie Indian was released. It focused heavily on the deep-rooted corruption within RTO (Regional Transport Office) offices in Tamil Nadu. The movie was supposed to sound the alarm and raise public awareness to help reduce corruption. Instead, bribery became more normalized than ever before. For the past 30 years, it felt like only middlemen could walk into an RTO and actually get anything done. In 2018, when we moved back to India from the US, I had a naive mindset and a strong will not to pay bribes. I had purchased a used tractor for agricultural use. Despite having all the proper paperwork, I had to make at least a dozen trips to the RTO office, spending several months waiting before I finally succeeded. I made it my mission to persist and win. I did eventually succeed in registering the vehicle, but it came at a heavy cost to my time and emotional well-being. At the end of the grueling process, the assistant to the RTO laughed as he signed the papers and asked me to at least buy a flag for ₹50. Since then, I evolved into a "normal" Tamilian because survival comes first. Bribes had simply become a normalized part of life. Even after the 2026 election results and @TVKVijayHQ public stance against bribery, I still didn't voluntarily choose to go to the RTO office myself this time. However, I went today because a middleman told me, "Sir, please go yourself, as middlemen are no longer encouraged inside the offices." To my surprise, I walked in alone with the paperwork from my dealership. The entire process took two and a half hours. All of the staff members were courteous, except for the brake inspector. He reminded me of the movie Indian—he easily could have worn me down, but I persisted, driven by the hope given to us by our CM, @TVKVijayHQ sir. What gave me real hope, though, was the RTO officer himself. As he signed the papers, he explicitly told us, "You will be given a username and password to pay online. Please do not pay any money to anyone else." I never imagined I would hear those words inside an RTO office in my lifetime. Today, I got the work done with absolutely zero bribes. A huge thanks to Thiru. Vijay Avl and the people for electing him as our CM. I will write a separate post soon detailing where process reforms are still required based on my experience. Many British-era rules still exist; changing them will reduce corruption to an even greater extent. @raavanamavan7 @CMOTamilnadu @VigneshTvkCbe @arunraajkg @BussyAnand @RameshOffcl @makkal_saatchi